


Sometimes Life Does Give

by EasfitHadia



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Families of Choice, Gamora is strong, Gamora will protect her people, Healing, Thanos is not Gamora's father, Thanos is twisted, bad memories, resolutions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 19:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17835143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EasfitHadia/pseuds/EasfitHadia
Summary: Before she met the other Guardians, Gamora's life had been under the control of other people so long she nearly forgot how to live it. Thanos made her into something she wasn't and she couldn't stop him. Second chances are rare but, now that she has one, she's never letting go.





	Sometimes Life Does Give

Gamora looked into the tiny mirror of the Milano’s single bathroom. Her cheeks had filled out, she noticed. She looked healthier than she could ever remember, but also haggard, her eyes haunted. She’d dreamed of him again. Thanos.

She’d been dreaming of him more and more since the team had left Ego. It was always the same. He always came to bring his favorite daughter home.

He would murder the Guardians, her family, one at a time until he came to Peter. Peter, he would punish for taking her away. She’d be made to watch for hours as he screamed.

When it was over, Thanos would take her in his arms. She would stab at him, lashing out with the ruby blade the way she had hundreds of times of times as a girl. She never landed a blow. He would hold her even closer then, not embracing her but crushing her. Squeezing the soul out of her.

_“It’s not real,”_ he would say. _“These fools of yours, this silly fantasy, it’s just a lie you tell yourself. It’s weakness and sentiment and I taught you better.”_

The dream always ended there, with her terror and rage, knowing she would not be afforded the mercy of death, but dying inside all the same. There was no reason for it to go on. There was nothing left to see.

Thanos had taught her many things, all the things she hated most about herself. He’d taught her that a person could be dead without actually dying. He had taught her that a person will do the most horrific things to save his own life, even if that person believes it isn’t worth living. He had taught her that all people have a monster inside them, even if they don’t show it. He had taught her that life is vicious and terrifying and that peace and stability are illusions. Those were the lessons she worked hardest to unlearn.

Living under Thanos had been like living in a house of mirrors. Everything was a test or a trap. Once, when she was fifteen, he had called her into his throne room.

_“Your debt to me is paid,”_ he’d told her, _“You are free to go.”_

She hadn’t believed it at first. She’d known better. But when she’d returned to her quarters, she’d found the security disabled. Ordinarily, she had been allowed to remove from her room only enough supplies to last until she returned to it again. On that day though, the electric lock on her things was disabled, as were the scanners on her door and the cameras in the walls and ceiling. The guards that patrolled her section of the ship were gone too.

Then, she’d begun to wonder. Maybe it was worth the risk. Maybe he really would just let her go. He had plenty of other “children” after all, and she could easily be replaced. He’d told her as much each time she had failed in her training.

She had loaded her things into the little fighter that had been hers since she was a girl and left for the nearest planet. She couldn’t bear to remember the name of it now, considering what Thanos had done to it...

She’d tried to disappear there, telling no one her name. She’d found work cleaning tables in a small restaurant. The couple who had owned it had allowed her to stay with them when they’d discovered she was homeless.

She’d lived with them six months when Thanos returned. He’d taken them and bound them at his feet along with her, forcing them all to watch as his soldiers rounded up the entire population of the planet into two groups. Those who would live and those who would die.

The couple had screamed as their people were slaughtered. She’d screamed too. Thanos hadn’t allowed her to watch when her own family was murdered but, somehow, this felt like watching them die all over again. She’d seen death, brought death before but this time it was different. This time it wasn’t supposed to have happened.

When it was done, he’d untied her and placed Godslayer in her hand.

_“You know what to do,”_ he’d said.

She could remember the rage in his eyes when she had refused. It’s best not to think of the rest.

She splashed some water across her face, forcing her head to clear itself. Thanos had murdered her first family and she hadn’t been able to stop him. But she was different now. Thanos had made her into a sharp blade but, maybe, she could be a shield too. She hated the knowledge he’d forced on her but she would use it to protect her new family.

She had never expected a second chance. She wouldn’t have believed she had humanity enough to take advantage of one, let alone be worthy of it. But now she had one. She had a family and, as damaged as they all were, they loved and protected one another the way all proper families do. Every day she felt she didn’t deserve them and every day she worked to prove herself wrong.

Thanos would come one day and, when he did, he would find her ready to fight for her family. She _would_ protect them. They were the best thing that had ever happened to her and she wouldn’t allow them to be hurt. They had already been hurt far too much. They deserved this chance to heal together and she would make sure they had it. Peter, Drax, Rocket, Groot, and now Mantis. Her people. No one would take them from her, not even the one who had taken everything else.

**Author's Note:**

> After watching Infinity War and seeing how twisted Thanos's and Gamora's relationship truly was, I felt like I had to respond. It was difficult to watch and I needed to vent.


End file.
